


Blank

by TheWholeDamnTime



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotp, Friendship, Gen, Happy 100 Episodes!, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Spoilers for Episode 100
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 04:37:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11154399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWholeDamnTime/pseuds/TheWholeDamnTime
Summary: Spoilers for Episode 100If Keyleth was too exhausted to cast Greater Restoration and they spent another night in the mansion so she could get her spells back…





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**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the person in the chat who said “Oh man, I almost want Pike to stay feebleminded for a while just so we can have Grog give Pike reading lessons” and sent me down this road of angst when I should be finishing my finals projects.

Pike took a deep breath as she looked out to where the rest of the team was cleaning themselves up from the battle. She leaned back, legs in a relaxed v before her as she watched Vex gently holding a glowing green hand to a wound on her brother’s shoulder, where Percy was cleaning his guns and pretending he wasn’t watching every move she made as he did, where Keyleth was leaning back against a rock, head tilted back and eyes shut as she waited. Scanlan was muttering, moving his arms in careful circles as the purple-black glittering doorway of his mansion slowly appeared before them. A few more feet forward, and she’d forget that she was mad at him. She’d probably even forget he was called Scanlan. A few more feet, a few simple steps, and she’d become a blurred, hollow blank of a gnome.

It was terrifying.

The silk-soft earth shifted behind her and she looked up to see Grog stepping beside her. He shuffled there quietly for a moment before muttering out a soft “Hey,” concern laced through his features and an awkwardness in his shifting stance.

“Hi Grog,” she said, leaning back to watch the quiet moments of the aftermath of battle. After a moment, she looked up at him, confused, and patted her hand beside her.

“You were a monstah out there ‘til she got ya, you know,” he said, settling down next to her.

“I know.” She grinned, letting the words fall out with a false confidence that was waning with each second she contemplated what her stepping out of the circle would mean. The memories of fuzziness, the loss of self-awareness, or any awareness at all, were still fresh, still lingering in her bones and blood somewhere where the circle could not repress it. It was the lump rising in her throat, the trembling in her fingers,

Scanlan’s hands clapped together and the door before him snapped open, and he turned to gesture them through the door. The others turned to her, eyes heavy and brows creased with concern.

“You ready to go in?” She swallowed hard and looked up to where her best friend was watching her with gentle concern. She felt the edges of her lips curl up in a comforting smile despite the empty ache and fear bundled deep within her chest, and reached up to take his hand in hers.

“Let’s go.”

She stepped forward, hand in hand, and felt the fuzziness encroaching, pressing in on her skull, the pressure increasing with each step she took. Her free hand was shaking, clenched hard into a fist as she stepped closer and closer to the line at which it would overtake her. She watched as her friends, her family, watched with the foreboding of what would happen in the seconds to come with thin-pressed lips and an anxious gaze.

She didn’t see their faces drop when her hand went slack.

* * *

Grog led her through the door, hand in hand, a gentleness to his hulking form.

“I’ll make us a pillow fort, Pike. Yeah? Jus- just wait here.” He led her to sit beside the fireplace, settled on the edge and letting her rest there as he hurried around the mansion. A couple of ghostly servents passed by and he ordered them to bring pillows to the room before he rushed off to Pike and his own rooms to grab all their sheets, blankets, and comforters in a heaping pile in his arms. While he was in Pike’s room, dark leather caught his eye and he only paused a moment before adding it to the pile of bedding in his arms. Rushing back, he arranged the soft blankets in a nest and settled pillows around the edges, creating a replica of the fort they had created together the night prior.

“Sit here now,” he said, gently guiding her to the mass of pillows and blankets heaped upon the floor. She moved almost mechanically, like Terry’s massive robot did, and something in his chest ached as she stared blankly into nothingness.

“I know this is magic ‘n stuff, but… maybe we can teach you,” he said, bringing out the book he had grabbed, comically small in his large grip. “You taught me to read, so I- I can return the favor. Here,” he said, pulling out the book and flipping to the first page. Her eyes followed the movement, wide and confused as he set it in front of where they sat.

“Grog. G-rog. G- R- O- G,” he spelled, guiding her eyes to each letter by pointing. It was her gaze that unnerved him the most. It was hollow and empty, without any of the kindness or warmth he was accustomed to, following his finger until it stood still and instead she looked up into his eyes. “O- okay. Let’s try somethin’ simpler. Your name is…” His fingers were too big for the book and he felt a couple of pages rip slightly as he desperately tried to seek out the section he was looking for. Finally, he found it and splayed it before them, propping it up among the cushions and sheets.

“P- I- K- E. Pike. That’s _your_ name,” he offered, his finger tracing underneath each letter. “See? P- I- K- E.” Each letter fell slower from his lips, his finger moving at a fraction of the speed, and each time, her gaze followed the movement. But each time, she would turn back to stare up at him with nothing in her eyes but confusion and childlike fear. A hollowness, the lack of recognition in even looking at where he towered above her. “Come on now, Pike,” he said, voice breaking and eyes welling up with tears. “It can’t be that hard, you taught _me_ to do it, right?” She stared, and her eyes were blank.

“P-” there was something swelling in his throat, a pressure- “I-” his breath felt compressed, like it was going to explode from his chest- “K-” there was water in his eyes and it burned, burned like the water in Percy’s shop, seared so the letters he was trying so hard to spell were blurring in front of him- “E. Pike. Your name is Pike.” Her features were blurred but the blankness transcended the clarity of the image before him. “Your name is Pike,” he said, feeling his voice break into something that was almost a sob, mangling her name to match its distortion on the page in front of him.

“Your name is Pike, and you’re my best buddy.”

* * *

The next morning, Keyleth came down the hall to find the Pike sleeping in Grog’s lap, his hand cupped gently around her shoulder.

“Did you sleep at all, Grog?” she asked, gently moving towards where the pair was nestled among the bedding.

“A bit.”

“You need to rest, you know. We have a few more hours.”  

“I’ll be alright.” The druid sighed and brought her hands to cup Pike’s cheeks, closing her eyes to concentrate as a warm glow began to emanate from between her fingers. As the glow intensified harshly for a moment and then faded into nothing, she let out a soft breath. The cleric’s expression eased into a soft smile and she shifted in her sleep, and Grog’s expression softened as he watched her.

“Get some rest, Grog,” Keyleth said softly as she took her hands away and turned to walk from the room. When she paused to look back, he was already asleep, head fallen back and jaw slack, sores starting to rumble from his chest.

With a warm smile, she slipped back to bed and let the early morning hours and the embrace of Vax’s arms lull her back into the soft grey blanket of sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 100 episodes, Critical Role! I was able to tune in live for the first time last night, and I'm super happy I was able to. Also- that poster, though. If only it was less expensive. Anywho, please remember that I love reading your comments and critiques, and I am always open for new prompts and ideas!!! Thank you so much for reading <3


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